Good points in this discussion.
Some things to consider: there are side discussions, threads, conversation, happening
about sudo biz on other platforms.
Platforms like Discord bring the threading and topic functionality under the umbrella of
one platform.
For instance, how many people know that there's a clean up group discussion? And how
do you join? And there are probably other threads and convos going on that I don't
even know about.
Whatever the solution we go for, I think it should offer this very basic feature, threads
and topic channels.
Ivan Silva
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Makerspace<https://www.beltiblibrary.org/plan-your-visit/makerspace>
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________________________________
From: Justin Morrison via sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss(a)sudoroom.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 7, 2025 12:02
To: Jake <jake(a)spaz.org>
Cc: sudo-discuss(a)sudoroom.org <sudo-discuss(a)sudoroom.org>
Subject: [sudo-discuss] Re: sudoroom discord?
2c:
As a regular contributor to the Noisebridge Discord I can say this: The time sink/overhead
in participating with the very unwieldy and distracting platform that Discord is, is
completely at odds with the relative and sometimes near total neglect by most members, and
all but the most committed and engaged folks. Even when communicating with board members
and interest group stakeholders, for example, I often can't get a response from them,
on pertinent issues.
I have not seen, as many assume, that because it's hip to have a Discord server,
you'll attract folks otherwise not attending to their email inbox. Noisebridge has
some 5,000+ members, of which I'd estimate there are 25 or fewer individuals who post
regularly and with useful content.
I think it's an awful platform, where everything is grotesquely gamified, and one
can't avoid nudges to purchase "Nitro" and other digital doohickies. You do
not own your data. And the data is not at all portable.
Certainly, there must be other usable options. Anything marginally more functional that
IRC with some threading and topic capabilities would be sufficient.
In terms of participation in these platforms -vs- email, socials, etc: I think there's
a shift in culture away from paying attention consistently to pretty much anything
that's not being force fed into one's doom-scroll feed. Asking people to
thoughtfully participate in a forum, email list, or chat discussion platform will attract
those who already would put the time in, no matter what platform is used, so the platform
selected should cater to those who make the most effort (and probably don't need
entertaining features).
Anything more would require a shift in the culture around our commitment to communication
and collaboration.
--
Justin Morrison
w: justin.dance<http://justin.dance>
i: @justindances<https://instagram.com/justindances>
p: 213.700.6385